"Anonymous asked you: Hey, if you would still like prompts, then what about Elliot and Don discussing Don's kiss with Sloan." Previously posted on tumblr, I'm posting on my various fanfic accounts to backup.

I must be on a Joshua Radin bender for this fandom, because I'm ripping all my titles from his songs. I don't care, here you go.

Enjoy.

Lovely Tonight

"What the hell, man"

Don looks up just as Elliot corners him half under the stairs, away from the party that's quickly picking up while the broadcast continues. There's another, smaller party in the control room that he stayed for the beginning of, revolving mostly around Kendra fawning over Mac's new ring while the guys all drink and smoke because they can. Don's taking five minutes to breathe while he's not needed; it's been a long night.

"What?" he asks Elliot, looking around for smoke or a crowd or something.

"What do you mean, 'what'?" says Elliot, give him a look.

"I mean, what the hell, what?"

"Don't give me that" says Elliot with an eyeball. "Sloan"

"Oh. That"

He has the grace to look somewhat sheepish, which Old Don would never have done, but New Don got macked by Sloan in front of a lot of people all over an economics book he's never going to read; New Don is going to take a while to find his footing..

"Yeah, that. Since when did Sloan walk into the control room and plant one on you?"

"Well, to be fair, this was the first time"

And that's the other reason he's taking five minutes. He'd almost forgotten about that, until he remembered, and then his head started to swim a little bit and he had to get away from the smoke.

"And when exactly were you going to tell me?"

"I- it- I didn't plan on not telling you, if that's what you mean" he stutters. Jesus, he's just trying to wrap his own head around it, let alone tell anyone. It's a lot to take in, not least of which is how Sloan figured out it was him in the first place. "I guess with all the work on the election coverage, and then Mac and Will kinda blowing us out of the water there, it just slipped my mind"

"Sloan planted one on you and it slipped you mind?"

And yeah, okay, he deserves the look he's getting right now. But to be fair, if it weren't for the fact there were witnesses he could very easily write it off as a complex hallucination.

"Not so much slipped my mind as, I guess I was a little frazzled and my first instinct wasn't to come running to you like a twelve year old whose crush passed me a note at lunch"

"Well, to be fair, it's exactly like that, except the adult version, with grownups and jobs, and what the hell are you going to do now?"

That's a very good question, because whatever this thing between them is- and Don can acknowledge he's always had a little crush on Sloan, especially since Miss Socially Inept herself not only picked apart his 'good guy' brain, but confessed she liked him too; but whatever this is, it's complicated. It's new, and messy, and completely out of the blue, and he really didn't plan for this.

"Honestly? I have no idea"

"Yeah" says Elliot, nodding at him, He imagines he has a rather lost look on his face. Now that Elliot has calmed a bit he's looking a little more amused about the whole thing; easy for him to say, he's married with kids, he's done his hard yards, and he doesn't have to figure this out on no sleep and with impending doom headed his way tomorrow.

"I liked it" he confesses, sheepish again. "I mean, I really liked it"

"Do you really like her?"

"Who wouldn't?" he says with a shrug. And that's true enough; she's sexy and composed and fourteen times smarter than anyone in the same room, not to mention she has a good heart under the rough edges. He's still baffled by her single status, if it still is that, which is the other terrifying question to now be answered.

"That's not what I'm asking"

They stare at each other for a long moment. There's history and a friendship that extends beyond the office. There's a trust, and a respect, and you don't see your people get beaten for doing their jobs without that having a lasting impact; without jumping in the fire too, where you can, and for the right reasons.

"I really like her" says Don, nodding. He knows he must have a ridiculous expression on his face right now, but it's Elliot, so he cares less than he normally would.

"So get out there and wait for her" says Elliot, gesturing to the news desk. They're obviously on a thirty second commercial because Will and Sloan are shuffling their notes while they make small talk with Taylor.

"What?"

"Go out there" repeats Elliot, ducking his head and shooing him with his hands.

"I'm not needed. Mac's got the control room, and we're really just wrapping up at this point"

"I don't mean the control room, I mean get your ass over there and wait for her"

Don stares at him dumbly for a moment, his mouth hanging open, and he feels like that could really be the tag line for his entire night. Elliot looks a bit smug, and only nods to the cameras again, and so Don does the only logical thing he can think of. He turns on the spot and starts shuffling over to the camera, standing just beyond its line of sight. He ignores the snigger from behind him.

And then Sloan meets his eye half way through one of Will and Taylor's barbs and he ignores everything else too.